By:    
 
Students:  Fernando  and  Billy  
Supervisor:  Haoken  
— Design,  build  and  
program  a  Robot  
that  follows  the  
obstacle  way  till  
mission  point  and  
then  carries  as  
many  ping-­‐pong  
balls  as  possible  to  
base  camp.  
—  Rules  
—  1)  The  time  for  robot’s  mission  performance  is  2  
minutes.  Time  is  measured  at  the  point  that  robot  
starts  and  judge  blows  a  whistle  for  signal  of  
starting.  
—  2)  Robot  must  start  from  start  area.  Any  part  of  the  
robot  is  not  allowed  to  exceed  the  start  area  before  
it  starts.  
—  3)  Going  along  the  way,  if  both  wheels  of  robot  are  
run  off  the  course,  the  match  will  be  quitted  
immediately  and  only  score  which  obtained  just  
before  will  be  approved.  
—  4)  Robot  is  not  allowed  to  turn  back  to  the  way  
where  it  started.  Ex:  if  robot  started  on  the  A  line,  it  
must  turn  back  to  the  base  camp  in  the  B  or  C  line.  
—  5)  Robot  starts  from  the  base  camp,  performs  
missions  and  comes  back  to  the  base  camp.  When  
the  body  of  robot  is  touched  with  the  base  camp,  
the  match  is  completed.  
—  6)  If  contestant  touches  the  robot  out  of  the  base  
camp  after  it  starts,  contestant  will  be  
disqualified.  
—  7)  Robot  has  one  chance  to  achieve  the  mission.  
—  To  get  mission  points,  Robot  must  completely  pass  
through  all  mission  areas.  
—  Regulations  about  robot:  
—  1.  The  maximum  dimensions  of  the  robot  before  it  
starts  must  be  within  250mm  ×  250  mm  ×250  mm.  
After  robot  starts,  the  dimension  of  the  robot  is  
not  restricted.  
—  2.  Teams  are  allowed  only  one  controller  (RCX  or  
NXT).  
—  3.  Amounts  of  motors  and  sensors  are  not  
restricted.    
—  4.  Any  actions  or  movements  by  the  participants  
are  not  allowed  to  interfere  or  assist  the  robot  
while  it  is  running.  Teams  that  violate  this  rule  
will  be  disqualified  at  that  match.  
—     
—  5.  A  robot  must  be  autonomous  and  finish  the  
missions  by  itself.  Any  radio  communication,  
remote  control  and  wired  control  systems  are  not  
allowed  while  the  robot  is  running.  Teams  in  
violation  of  this  rule  will  be  
—  disqualified  and  must  quit  the  competition  
immediately.  
—  6.  If  robot  is  equipped  with  NXT  as  a  controller,  
the  Bluetooth  function  must  be  switched  off  and  
downloading  programs  must  be  done  through  
USB  cable.  
—  MATERIALS:  
—  1.  Court    
—  2)  One  hundred  and  orange  colored  ping-­‐
pong  balls  

—  2.  LEGO®  MINDSTORMSTM  Education  NXT  sets  and  

resource  sets  
—  3.  LEGO®  MINDSTORMSTM  NXT  V2  
software    

—  4.  Stop  Watch  

—  5,  Laptop      

—  6.  Digital  Camera  

—  BACKGROUND  INFORMATION    
—  The  LEGO  MINDSTORMS  NXT  System  
—  Physics  is  fun  and  Robots  are  fascinating.  The  concept  
of  nonliving  materials  performing  complicated  tasks  
all  by  themselves  is  truly  amazing!    
—  Lego  Mindstorms  NXT  is  a  programmable  robotics  kit  
released  by  Lego  in  July  2006,  replacing  the  first-­‐
generation  LEGO  Mindstorms  kit.    
The  kit  consists  of  519  Technic  pieces,  3  servo  motors,  4  
sensors  (ultrasonic,  sound,  touch,  and  light),  7  connection  
cables,  a  USB  interface  cable,  and  the  NXT  Intelligent  Brick.    
—  The  robot's  "brain!"  
—  The  all-­‐new  NXT  Intelligent  Brick,  our  
robot’s  “brain,”  features  a  powerful  32-­‐bit  
microprocessor  and  Flash  memory.  The  
NXT  intelligent  Brick  includes:  
—  Our  robot's  "eyes!"  
—  The  Ultrasonic  Sensor  helps  our  robot  judge  distances  
and  "see"  where  objects  are!  Using  the  NXT  Brick  ,  the  
Ultrasonic  Sensor  is  able  to  detect  an  object  and  
measure  its  proximity  in  inches  or  centimeters.  
—  Detect  light  intensity!  
—  The  Light  Sensor  assists  in  helping  our  robot  to  "see."  
Using  the  NXT  Brick,  it  enables  our  robot  to  distinguish  
between  light  and  dark,  as  well  as  determine  the  light  
intensity  in  a  room  or  the  light  intensity  of  different  
colors.  
—  Take  precise  steps!  
—  The  Servo  Motor  has  a  built-­‐in  rotation  sensor  that  
measures  speed  and  distance,  and  reports  back  to  the  NXT  
Intelligent  Brick.  This  allows  for  precise  steps  and  
complete  motor  control  within  one  degree  of  accuracy!  
Several  motors  can  be  aligned  to  drive  at  the  same  speed.  
—  Our  robot's  "fingers!"  
—  The  Touch  Sensor  reacts  to  touch  and  release,  enabling  
your  robotic  creation  to  "feel"  like  never  before!  It  can  
detect  single  or  multiple  button  presses,  and  reports  back  
to  the  NXT  Intelligent  Brick  (sold  separately.)  
—  Our  robot's  "ears!"  
—  Using  the  NXT  Brick  ,the  Sound  Sensor  allows  our  robot  
to  hear!  The  Sound  Sensor  is  able  to  measure  noise  levels  
in  both  dB  (decibels)  and  dBA  (frequencies  around  3–6  
kHz  where  the  human  ear  is  most  sensitive),  as  well  as  
recognize  sound  patterns  and  identify  tone  differences.  
—  The  Programming  Language  
—  Although  the  previously  mentioned  parts  make  up  the  
entire  physical  design  of  the  robot,  They  won’t  do  
anything  without  a  program.  The  NXT  system’s  
programming  language,  which  is  called  NXT-­‐G  is  a  
graphical,  drag-­‐and-­‐drop  language  that  we  have  found  to  
be  software.  
—  When  programming,  we  can  choose  from  many  different  
types  of  programming  blocks,  each  of  which  directs  the  
robot  to  perform  a  specific  action  (such  as  moving  a  
motor,  playing  a  sound  and  so  on).    
—     
NXT-­‐G  Education  Version    
—  HARDWARE  CHALLENGES  
—  Designing  and  Operating  Ultimate  Grabber  
mechanism  
—  We  divide  the  process  of  grabbing  balls  into  four  
steps:  
—  1,  find  objects  (balls)  
—  2,  distinguish  target  objects  from  walls  or  other  
obstacles.  
—  3,  position  the  grabber  in  correct  orientation  
—  4,  operate  the  grabber  to  catch  the  objects  (balls)  
 
—  The  problem  with  using  motors  is  not  in  opening  or  
closing  the  hand;  it’s  in  getting  the  hand  to  apply  
continuous  pressure  on  the  object  to  prevent  balls  
from  falling.  This  means  we  cannot  just  position  the  
fingers  around  them.    
—  We  must  also  exert  a  force  that  tightens  
around  the  balls  even  though  we  are  not  
moving  the  fingers  anymore.    
—  NXT  servo  motors  are  more  robust  and  can  
withstand  short-­‐term  stalling  (having  them  
powered  but  their  movement  blocked).  
They  are,  however,  extremely  power-­‐hungry  
and  would  waste  a  lot  of  our  batteries’  
power  doing  so.  Long-­‐term  stall  may  still  
heat  up  the  servo  motors,  and  although  
they  have  a  protection  overheating  is  still  
undesirable.  
Our    compact,  lightweight  grabber  
—  We  need  a  compact,  lightweight  grabber  for  
our  lifting  and  grabbing  mechanism.    
—  The  ultimate  grabbing  system  we  have  
designed  for  last  six  months  allows  us  to  
transfer  motion  to  distant  parts  through  
number  of  gears  that  precisely  located  and  
designed  for  specific  purposes,  away  from  
the  motors.  A  pair  of  opposing  fingers  
introduced  a  degree  of  elasticity  into  the  
system,  and  helps  the  fingers  close  and  
open  based  on  our  precise  degree  and  
power  which  we  set  during  our  
programming.  
—  Becoming  Mobile  
—  Most  robots  are  designed  with  some  kind  of  mobility  
in  mind.  Motion  makes  our  creatures  animated  and  
“alive”,  and  offers  a  limitless  number  of  interesting,  
fun,  and  challenging  projects  with  which  to  test  our  
creativity  and  skills.    
—  Most  mobile  robots  belong  to  one  of  two  categories:  
wheeled  robots  or  legged  robots.  Though  legs  provide  
an  effective  way  to  move  on  rough  terrains,  wheels  are  
generally  much  more  efficient  on  smooth  surfaces  just  
like  our  court.  After  numerous  experiments,  we  
designed  and  finally  decided  to  use  a  6-­‐wheeled  skid-­‐
steer  drive  mechanism  for  our  robot.  
—  Building  a  6-­‐wheeld  Skid-­‐Steer  Drive  
—  The  advantage  of  our  skid-­‐steer  drive  is  its  capability  
to  turn  on  the  spot,  which  allows  our  robot  to  operate  
in  tight  area.  The  downside  to  this  is  that  when  
turning  there  is  a  lot  of  friction  on  surfaces  such  as  
our  court.  However,  we  overcomed  this  friction  
through  our  programming  skills.  
—  Our  6-­‐wheeled  skid-­‐steer  drive  requires  a  trickier  
setup.  We  must  transmit  the  power  to  all  the  wheels;  
otherwise,  our  platform  won’t  turn  smoothly,  or  it  
might  not  even  turn  at  all.  The  model  shown  in  figure  
uses  a  combination  of  number  of  24t  and  40t  gears  
connected  to  two  motors.  This  platform  proofs  be  
strong,  fast,  compact,  and  light.  We  can  add  an  NXT,  
and  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  sensors,  and  even  our  
ultimate  grabber  arm.  
PROGRAMMING  CHALLENGES    
 
Knowing  where  we  are?  
—  After  our  first  few  month  of  experimenting  with  
robotics,  we  began  to  wonder  if  there  was  a  simple  
way  to  make  our  robot  know  where  it  was  and  where  
it  was  going  –  in  other  words,  we  want  to  create  some  
kind  of  navigation  system  able  to  establish  its  position  
and  direction.  There  is  no  single  method  for  
determining  the  position  and  orientation  of  a  robot,  
but  we  can  combine  several  different  techniques  to  
get  useful  and  reliable  results.    
—  Line  following,  which  we  have  used  in  this  
project,  is  probably  the  simplest  and  most  reliable  
navigation  based  on  our  court.  Saying  that  the  
light  sensor  “see”  is  definitely  too  strong  a  
statement.  What  it  actually  does  is  detect  ambient  
light  and  measure  its  intensity.    
— 3-­‐Stages  process  
—  Stage  1  –  From  Base  camp  to  Mission  Area  
 
—  Stage  2  –  Mission  Area  (Operating  and  Loading  the  
Balls  using  Grabber)  
 
—  Stage  3:  From  Mission  Area  back  to  Base  Camp  
?  (Normally  we  call  it  :  Pulang  Kampung)  
Base  camp  to  Mission  Area  
Moving  towards  the  mission  area  and  using  light  sensors  to    
position  The  GrabberBot  in  straight  position.  
  
Combination  of  motor  A  &  grabber    
mechanism  to  expand  the  wings  
 Stage  2  

Stage  3  

Using  My  blocks  to  make  our  program  simple.  

My  blocks  are  self  contained  pieces  of  NXT-­‐G  
Code  that  we  can  define  and  “package”  into  a  
Custom  blue  block.  
Inside  Grabber  My  Block  contains  number    
of  Sub-­‐My  Blocks  to  operate  the  Grabbing    
mechanism.  
From  Mission  area  back  to  Base  Camp  
In  the  case  of  line  following,  our  robot  knows  nothing  about    
where  it  is,  because  its  knowledge  is  based  solely  on  whether  
 it  is  to  the  right  or  left  of  the  line.  
—  But  lines  are  indeed  an  effective  system  to  steer  a  robot  from  one  place  
to  another.  However,  it  isn’t  easy.  When  the  line  ends,  a  simple  line  
follower  would  turn  around  and  go  back  to  the  other  side  of  the  line  
or  out  of  track.  We  have  to  make  our  software  more  sophisticated  to  
detect  the  sudden  change  and,  instead  of  applying  a  standard  route  
correction,  start  a  new  degree  algorithms  that  drive  the  robot  toward  
the  base  camp  and  our  robot  will  go  forward  a  specific  distance  
corresponding  to  the  approximate  length  of  the  line.    
 
—  The  differential  drive  is  simple  and  versatile,  but  it  
can’t  go  straight.  The  steering  drive,  meanwhile,  goes  
straight  but  cannot  turn  in  place.  Our  6-­‐wheeled  skid-­‐
steer  drive  can  do  both.  
—  “robotics  is  like  cooking:  there  are  many  recipes  for  
the  same  dish,  but  to  be  successful  you  still  must  
know  the  ingredients  well  and  use  them  in  the  right  
proportions.  Of  course,  don’t  forget  to  add  the  most  
important  ingredient  of  all:  our  creativities.”  
—  Designing  a  good  robotic  grabber  or  hand  is  more  of  
an  art  than  technique  too.  There  are  indeed  technical  
issues  when  it  comes  to  gearing  that  we  must  know  
and  consider  to  successfully  position  the  grabbers,  
apply  the  right  amount  of  pressure,  troubleshoot  the  
elasticity  of  the  object  to  be  grabbed.  And  not  allow  
our  robot  to  drop  the  balls.  
—  Thank  you